Join Cabinet

Democracy 4: Parliamentary Edition is a multiplayer companion game designed to be played over voice chat (e.g., Discord) while one player streams the video game Democracy 4.

1. The Setup

• The Speaker (Host): The player who creates the room acts as the Speaker. They stream Democracy 4 to the other players. They do NOT get a turn and only vote to break ties. They are responsible for enacting passed motions in the video game.
• The Ministers (Players): Everyone else joins the room and is assigned a political Role.
• Room Code: Creating a room generates a 5-character code. Share it with other players so they can join.

2. Lobby Options

• Public Roles: When ON, every minister can see what role the others have. When OFF, roles are secret — players only see their own. You can tap any player in the roster (when public) to see their full role definition, allies, enemies, and win ultimatum.
• Random Roles: When ON (default), roles are auto-assigned at game start. When OFF, ministers each pick their own role from the list before the game begins — or hit "Pick Random" to leave it to fate.

3. Your Goal

Each Minister has a unique Win Ultimatum listed on their mandate. Your goal is to pass policies in Parliament that manipulate the Democracy 4 simulation to fulfill your Ultimatum before anyone else does.

4. Turns & Motions

• At game start, ministers are seated in a randomized turn order. The app tracks whose turn it is.
• When it is your turn, you propose one Motion per turn (a policy change, new tax, cancelling a programme, etc.). Choose a category and add brief details.
• Once submitted, the motion goes onto the floor and waits for a Second.

5. Seconding the Motion

• Per parliamentary procedure, every motion needs a Second from another minister before discussion can begin.
• The proposer cannot second their own motion. The Speaker is impartial and doesn't second either.
• Any other minister taps "I second the motion" to advance it to the discussion phase. The first second wins.
• Ministers can also tap "I won't second" to decline. If every eligible minister declines, the motion fails for lack of a second and turn passes to the next minister.

6. Discussion & Voting

• Discussion Phase: Once seconded, every minister sees the motion plus a "I'm ready to vote" button. Debate freely in voice chat. Tap when you're ready to end discussion.
• Voting opens automatically once every minister has confirmed they're ready. The Speaker doesn't ready up — they just watch the count.
• The voting screen takes over with AYE / NAY buttons. Tap the _ in the top-right to minimize — useful for re-checking your win condition before voting.
• The Speaker only votes if there's a tie — they cast the deciding vote on standard motions, and pick the winner among tied options on special sessions.

7. Resolution

• If a motion PASSES, the Speaker implements the policy change in Democracy 4. Turn passes to the next minister.
• If a motion FAILS, the policy is discarded. Turn passes to the next minister regardless.
• Either way, your turn ends after the vote — one motion per turn keeps debate moving.
• The Parliamentary Log (linked from your mandate card) keeps a persistent record of every motion: who proposed it, who seconded it, the vote tally, and the result.

8. Joining Mid-Game

• Players can join an existing game in progress using the room code.
• If Random Roles is ON, the new player is assigned a random unused role immediately and joins the action.
• If Random Roles is OFF, the new player picks a role from the available list before being seated. Roles already taken by other ministers are unavailable.
• New players are added to the end of the turn order regardless of how their role was chosen.

9. Host Controls

• The Speaker can remove a misbehaving minister at any time by tapping Eject Users — a list of all ministers appears with an Eject button next to each name. A confirmation pops up before anything happens.
• If the Speaker leaves Parliament, the entire room is closed for everyone. Confirm carefully.

10. Speaker's Controls (At Any Time)

• Special Session: The Speaker can call a special session at any time when no motion is on the floor — a vote of no confidence, a constitutional question, an external event, anything. The Speaker provides the topic and as many response options as they want (2–8). Default is binary AYE / NAY, but the Speaker can offer custom labels (e.g. "Approve", "Reject", "Send to Committee"). Special sessions skip the second (Speaker's authority) and go straight to discussion. All ministers vote and the option with the most votes wins. If two or more options tie at the top, the Speaker picks the winner from the tied options. Special sessions don't advance turn order — the current minister keeps the floor afterwards. They appear in the log with a SPECIAL tag.
• Reverse Turn: The Speaker can correct mistakes by tapping Reverse. If a motion is currently on the floor (awaiting second, in discussion, or being voted on), it will be cancelled. If no motion is active, the most recent resolved motion is undone — removed from the log, with the turn returned to whoever proposed it. Useful if a vote was misinterpreted or the wrong category was selected.